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HomeCareersEarly careers

Early careers

Need a career that will nurture your ambitions?
Great things start at ground level

Whether you’re looking to develop your industry experience, or just starting out on your career journey, we offer a number of routes into our business for capable, can-do people. 

Whichever path you choose, you’ll be given opportunities to develop professionally and personally throughout your time with us.

Our early careers video highlights the wide and varied range of early careers opportunities that we have to offer, and showcases some of the different ways in which you can become part of our business.

Click on the video below to hear from some of our current graduates and apprentices, about their career path so far, and what it’s like to work with us.

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Apprenticeships

If you’re looking to develop your skills and earn a living while still completing your studies, an apprenticeship might be the way forward.

We offer a range of apprenticeship opportunities in both site and office based roles. Our apprentices work alongside experienced staff to gain specific skills, as well as receiving classroom-based learning through a formal college programme, to achieve a nationally recognised qualification.

Our apprenticeships take between one and five years to complete, depending on the level, skill and sector you wish to work in, and are tailored to suit the needs of the individual. We have relationships with external bodies, such as Construction Skills, colleges, universities and training providers to establish strong foundations for our apprenticeship frameworks.

Graduate programmes

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Future leaders and innovators get off to a flying start with our graduate and placement opportunities. Our graduate programmes are a three-year experience designed to maximise the skills and abilities graduates need to excel in their chosen field. We recruit graduates on their potential and give them the opportunity to develop within a structured framework programme. Graduate opportunities are available in:

Engineering: Our engineering graduates have the opportunity to develop innovative engineering and construction solutions accross a range of disciplines, on some of the UK’s biggest construction projects.

Quantity surveying: We offer an excellent opportunity to develop the skills needed to become a leading quantity surveyor. You will receive training and mentorship from some of the industry’s best, ensuring your ability to manage and control the costs of major multidisciplinary projects from tender to post completion.

Construction management: Our graduates have the opportunity to work across the UK on some of the biggest and most complex projects, working with some of the best project managers, designers and in-house service teams to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Corporate services: Our corporate services graduates help us provide the unique support that our business needs to achieve its objectives, whilst ensuring consistency of information, systems and procedures across the group. We also offer a combination of programmes that can lead to professional accreditations.

Work placements and experience

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Schools, colleges and universities 

We are looking to build strong relationships with schools, colleges and universities in the vicinity of our work sites and offices. If you would like to request support from us, please complete the Education Engagement Request form available here. Please note that you must be over 18 to complete this form, to ensure that we do not communicate directly with minors.  

This could include requests for us to offer curriculum support, help with careers events, attendance at a virtual event, STEM support, or a request to visit one of our sites or offices. In the past…. 

Please provide as much information as you can, so we can direct your request to the most relevant part of the business. We will review all requests carefully and, whilst we would love to be able to support them all, we hope you will understand that it might not always be possible to do so in every case.  

Work Experience 

Work experience placements are a fantastic way to experience a taste of life in our industry without having to commit to a specific path. We offer a number of work experience and placement opportunities, including summer and one-year placements. 
 
Our summer placement programme provides students with the opportunity to build on their technical knowledge within a site environment. During the placement, students are allocated a project, giving them experience of managing a project through to completion. We ensure students receive regular feedback on their progress and, some are offered the opportunity to join us once they have completed their university studies. 
 
For university students, our year industry placement programmes focus on on-the-job learning, to complement their university course. Placements focus on technical skills and the progression towards increasing responsibility. Those who show consistent progress might be considered for employment post-graduation, via our graduate programme. 

To enquire about a placement opportunity please complete ourEducation Engagement request form. Please note that you must be over 18 to complete this form, to ensure that we do not communicate directly with minors.  

Please provide as much information as you can, so we can direct your request to the most relevant part of the business. We will review all requests carefully and, whilst we would love to be able to support them all, we hope you will understand that it might not always be possible to do so in every case.  

The 5% Club

VolkerWessels UK is a member of The 5% Club. We are committed to ensuring that a minimum of 5% of our total workforce consists of apprentices, sponsored students or graduates on formal training schemes.

To apply for our graduate or apprenticeship programmes, or to view our vacancies, please click here.

Inspiring the next generation

We are looking to build strong and meaningful relationships with schools in the vicinity of our work sites and offices. If you would like to request support from VolkerWessels UK, please visit our Education Engagement pages for more information. 

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